Michael Keaton on being The Founder in new McDonald’s film

HEAR the phrase fast-food restaurant and one company in particular is likely to spring to mind — McDonald’s, of course.

The company is phenomenally successful, with branches all around the world — but things weren’t always like that, and a new Michael Keaton film tells the story of its humble beginnings.

In The Founder, out this week, Michael plays Ray Kroc, a 52-year-old milkshake-machine salesman who ended up building the Golden Arches fast-food empire.

“This guy was an amazing character and I had no idea of the story,” says Michael of the role.

“The first half of the movie, the first half of Ray, I had great respect for — a really, really hard worker.

“He wasn’t given anything. He did it all on his own, worked hard, created it.

“He was a visionary, his focus was remarkably intense, but then he kept turning the screw when he didn’t have to.

“And he got almost sadistic about it — this power, how much he wanted and how much more he wanted it.

“It hits you that you didn’t know anything about the McDonald’s back story, you just took it for granted, but it changed the world, in terms of how we eat and how we live.

“You know we live in a disposable world — food comes in a little bag, and then you throw the bag away. Done.

“Move on to the next thing.

“Now, we do it all the time with everything.

“Ray changed it all, and he was arguably the orginal grandeur without knowing it really.”

Some parallels have been drawn between Ray and new American president Donald Trump, and many think this film is very topical for that reason.

“I keep hearing this and I guess there are parallels, but I’ll give you the big difference,” Michael reveals.

“Donald Trump was given — although he probably worked hard — a big jump, monetarily.

“Ray Kroc was not. He had nothing and built this up himself.

“I really admire his work ethic. This is a guy who, unlike some people, didn’t inherit anything.”

Michael was also drawn to the complexities of Ray’s personality.

“Ray was more than a divisive figure,” he says. “He was the following — great, ambitious, an authentic pull-yourself-up-by-the- bootstraps quintessential American go-getter and almost sadistic in the end — cold-hearted and brutal.

“And that, for an actor, for me anyway, makes him really interesting.”

Michael told director John Lee Hancock from the start that he didn’t want to pull any punches.

“What I have no interest in is the need to be loved,” Michael admits.

“Now, if the role is someone who is supposed to be liked, you obviously honour that.

“But I said to John: ‘Let’s tell the truth.’

“You know how far Ray went or didn’t go. I’d say we were probably pretty accurate because I don’t think that I’d have told the story if we weren’t.

“I didn’t want to sugarcoat it.”

The Founder is in cinemas from Friday, February 17.